Lost Light discussion

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Auntie Slag
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Post by Auntie Slag »

*Spoiler*
















I totally dug the ending; an awesome reference to Furman's G2 and the panel about it being a tragedy that Optimus & Megatron were never on the same side. Loved the smile on his face.
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Denyer
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Lost Light #7

Post by Denyer »

Preview:

https://twitter.com/Freecomicbook/statu ... 1725109248

Looks somewhat more promising.

Anyone object if I stick LL posts into one thread? It's just not active enough really for an issue by issue thing.
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Post by Denyer »

Okay, #7 was a fun palate cleanser. Art's still a bit hit and miss and the colouring on Skip could've done with a bit of differentiation. I hope that's the last we see of Tailgate for a long time, in the way characters in Marvel wound up down mine shafts until someone remembered them -- whatever relationship there was with Cyclonus felt incredibly forced and to consist more of drama than substance.

But yeah -- Rodimus less of an unlikable twit, some pieces moved back into usual positions and hopefully the plot can now get on with tracking down Red Dwarf the LL.
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

So have not posted in a while.

I'm planning to post in the All are one cancelled thread but suffice to say, issues 1-6 of Lost Light didn't exactly hit the spot for me. This is the first issue in a while were it really worked. Certainly not a perfect issue, don't get me wrong. But this had me hooked from first panel to last, focused on the characters (a key reason I believe that some people like this series and others cant link to it) and it also threw in some nice twists.

The Tailgate thing, I actually could see why they were attracted to each other. Cyclonus was the proud and powerful warrior that Tailgate wished he was, Tailgate was a link back to a Cybertron before it was engulfed with war, a pure spark in a way and I always felt that Cyclonus link was almost fatherly at times.
SPOILER! (select to read)
I thought the break up bit was down well because for a bit I thought it was just genuinely the "I've changed, you've changed"
thing which is perfectly reasonable and realistic. Then I was a bit deflated when it was revealed that Tailgate was just putting safe distance between them. Then Fangry happened and that was done so well. Part of me hopes that Tailgate never emerges (certainly the way the passage of time is shown, its possible) and instead of Tailgate emerging safe, we maybe just get a resolution between Fangry and Cyclonus, or even better nothing
Other highlights was that for the first time in a while or even ever, Rodimus shown. His insight was great and I hope this is not another false dawn on the character because knowing he can be written like this makes the Zaff Brannigan stuff all the worse.

So for the first time in about 9 issues (wasn't sold on the Sentinal Prime stuff, nor the comedy crossover issue either) Lost Light / MTMTE felt important again. I want to see where this goes. Bring on the issue 8 previews.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Just realised I never posted in the LL6 thread as a lot of the discussion went into the sales thread. So if you haven't seen me pimp it and are desperate to know what I thought of the first arc all together, listen to the newest Podcast Maximus!:

http://tfarchive.com/fandom/features/po ... ode_23.mp3

One thing I didn't go into on the podcast is that there are many examples of my favourite things being relaunched rebooted and rebranded by higher ups (oddly usually about 4 or five years in. See the fifth seasons of A-Team, Quantum Leap, Angel and Babylon 5).

And if that thing is highly serialised like those last two examples the creators almost always make a big thing of it not mucking up their plans to much, just a minor change in emphasis and things are still on track and all the new ideas were gratefully received.

Which might be true, but by strange coincidence they always wobble badly for a while. It does take time to turn the ship and sometimes they never recover. The first Lost Light arc was certainly better than anything in the first half of that last B5 season (open up a page and point at it and you'll usually find something great on it, it's the pacing more than anything that meant it didn't quite work), so the question for me going in to issue 7 was how quick was the bounce back going to be.

Based on this, pleasingly, almost immediately. It does feel more like another issue 1, but that's not a bad thing for encouraging folk (of which there seem to have been a few) who might have been a bit burnt out to give it that one last try.

Indeed, I think I loved pretty much everything here. Even the jokes cocking a snoke at fan complaints (Rodimus sending up the difference between real time and the time elapsed in the book) were great and that usually bugs me.

Lots of nice character work, an excellent conclusion (for now! I think we're all agreed Tailgate will escape from the Pandorica) to Cygate and pretty much every page and moment sung. I especially loved how the Magnus gag went from quite silly to having a very serious explanation to being funny again (I do think it's a shame though that after making a point of him not taking his armour to the FU the opeing arc didn't do anything with him being more vulnerable than usual).

And Rodimus is a sneaky git there really, he knows the solution to Magnus' problem is to make him think in binary terms again, but makes sure the side he comes down on with Megatron is his own POV.

Lug and Anode's brief moment worked as well, less is more it seems. Not sure about Nautica being so impressed with Anode though, "You've only killed 50% of your patients to date!"

Poor Kaput. I was actually expecting him to turn out to be a villain, he seemed oddly sinister with how keep he was to stick Tailgate in a hole and irradiate him. A impressive bait and switch considering Fangry was sat there all along. And it answers my "Why do we need another doctor character?" question. Though with Ratchet on the team and First Aid returning, that would have been a hell of an exit for Velocity.

So, yeah, as a script, hugely impressive on every level.

With the art, now we've passed a storyline haunted by the spectre of Alex Milne (and the FU so has his DNA all over it that him not drawing that storyline is one of the great shames of IDW) I was very much looking forward to Jack Lawrence having the chance to bed in properly and show what he's got.

Unfortunately the inking by Jack Wycough is awful. Great big thick chunky lines that bury all detail and definitely don't suit Lawrence's jeff Anderson-ish more clean and straightforward art as it makes it looks childish. The faces of anyone in the middle distance are had to make out, that's how thick the inking is. I didn't realise there was anything intentionally wrong with Nautica's face till she pointed it out.

Wycough has done good work before (including on Wreckers) so I can only assume this was a rush bodge job. But it's hugely frustrating as that means another month before the new guy gets a fair shake of the tail (assuming this inking situation doesn't continue).

Other than that though, an A+ issue.

Oh, and it's interesting everyone is just assuming Megatron betrayed them. The idea he might have been killed trying to get back doesn't come up.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

I made an audible shock sound when Fangry appeared toward the end. Brilliant stuff, and I feel if this is the end of Tailgate then I'd be happy with it. I loved him earlier on, but ever since becoming super-powered he's lost his Tailgatiness. It was cool that he acknowledged that, and being so desperate to get Cyclonus back made it lovely. Fangry is a proper bastard Decepticon. I'd appreciate Tailgate staying buried for another six million years.

As ever the art is... nice, but the tone is off. I've had enough of this cartoony shit. Sorry Jack, you might be the nicest guy in the world, its just this book needs Milne so much.
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Post by Denyer »

In a book that usually keeps the sillier concepts light and interesting, the "superpowers" really grated after a short while. Even though part of it was due to excessive focus on an unsympathetic character, it's also an overused plot device outside of TF comics.
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

While I am fully prepared for Tailgate to be rescued / escape/ whatever, I think if Roberts just ends it here he has done a great bit of shock writing. So much of those last pages worked. As said, with the way it builds you sense something is going to go wrong but its going to be Kaput but the Frenzy reveal was great - pure evil. And in doing that We get a villain who we want to see get his due but he isn't a super power or a leader class. He is just a pure evil bastard.

Artwise, I'm not sold on this style but its not as glaring as the cartoon style in Till All are One. I can live with it but it wouldnt be my first choice. Or second. But it's ok. Felt more out of place in the last arc than here. I didn't feel the whole planet destruction / giant Rung came across well.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

Yeah, definitely. With MTMTE stacks of Milne's images immediately come to mind:

- Skids fully weaponed-up, standing up to the Legislators in the oil reservoir.
- Almost any image featuring Overlord, but I love the one where he's ginning into Chromedome's fallen face as the code to the slow cell is about to be revealed.
- Ambulon getting sliced in two.
- Whirl kicking down the door saying "Weapon up, Wallflowers"!
- The Sparkeater.
- The look on Megatron's face when Rung asked him "Who is Terminus"?

And there are loads more. I can't do that with Jack's work, sadly. It doesn't burn into my brain. Giant Rung smashing a moon should be an image to match any of the above, but it just doesn't.

Fangry's such an asshole Decepticon. He could've knocked Kaput out, or held him at gunpoint. Instead he had no qualms decapitating a good Doctor. A Doctor who also saved his life.

Time to leave Tailgate mint in box. In six million years his value should skyrocket.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

I'm quite keen to see Cyclonus back aboard the Lost Light listening to Smiths records alone in his room.
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Auntie Slag wrote:I'm quite keen to see Cyclonus back aboard the Lost Light listening to Smiths records alone in his room.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

If Tailgate really is gone, I'd love for Skids to somehow make a comeback. I never really found him to be the superpowered solution to everyone's ills like Tailgate. He was just a nice dude who happened to be a super learner, stood up to Megatron, was impressed by Rodimus and was a fun and interesting addition to the comic.
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Lost Light 8

Post by inflatable dalek »

Yeah, that was fun wasn't it? With the opening arc dealing with so much established mythology it was great to get to a weird alien planet (though another one focused around death, that must be a growth industry) for some unashamed fun and silliness.

Though fun and silliness that all wound up feeding into some very established mythology, looks like we'll be getting some big payoffs in the conclusion to this two parter.

Great stuff for Nautica, nice work on Anode and Lug and some lovely throwaway ideas.

I do hope Skids stays dead though, Mainly because Ravage is far more deserving.

And the transgender analogy was well done and finally brings to the franchise what my Mother was saying it should be doing 29 years ago when she read Space Pirates with me and got royally ****ed off with Arcee ("They're robots! They're not male or female! Just have them pick whatever the **** they want to be called and don't make a ****ing fuss of it the ****ing ****ing ****ers!". Terrible mouth on her).

Tramontano's art fitted like a glove with it's big breezy style (though I'd have liked to see Lawrence on this, free from a lot of the stuff that casts a Milne shadow I think this could have been his chance to knock it out the park), though I was a bit confused by the guy transforming from the coffin, possibly because I read it after a long shift though. I didn't click to that being Flame at the end till I read it on the Wiki either...

The real meat to talk about with be next month I think, but overall very nice.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I didn't get the coffin robot thing either. Maybe that'll be explained later...

I really, really liked Anode talking about gender and the Transformers here. That was fab. I liked that it's just the result of Transformers being exposed to other creatures where there is gender to explain something about themselves. That was lovely.

Good to see some more of Nautica too, who is one of my favourites (so there goes my argument about 'not more not a pre-existing character' moan), although ,yeah, does she really have to bring Skids back? Unless we need him for the Knights thingy thing thing and his trip through the portal. But if that's the case, why kill him off in the first place? Seems a bit of a waste of all that drama about Skids dying because he ends up unplugging himself from his life support. Hmm.

Art was excellent. Really like Tramontano's work here and hope she becomes a semi-regular on the book. Joanna's colours continue to be ace too. Nice sandy palette used throughout here, which helped sell being on a different planet. Good stuff.

...I didn't know that was Flame either. But that's okay, names of big show-boating villain reveals can wait (er, although it should have been a bit obvious from the Rodimus paint scheme).
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Post by Auntie Slag »

In her EYE!?! Has she got the skill to remove Skids' brain or did she get someone to help her e.g. Ratchet or Whirl (because of his Clockmaker skills and the fact that he in effect created Megatron with the hybrid transplant)? So happy for Skids' return!!

And what does this mean for Rossum's trinity? Cog, spark, brain. As far as this issue goes, she only has the brain... or is this about to prove Rossum wrong?

And does it mean they can bring Pipes back? Now that would be awesome too!
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Post by Auntie Slag »

A quick thought before the next issue which I think is out this week. When Skids first appeared in Issue 2 of MTMTE everyone greeted him with: "Its Skids, yeah? We all thought you were dead". And it became a running gag for an issue or two.

However when they meet Getaway, they don't say the same about him. So what was Skids up to before he teamed up with Getaway in Special Ops? Did he fake his own death? Is this a plot point that was long ago dropped, or does it tie in with Glitch's decision to join the Decepticons and its a story still to come?
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Post by inflatable dalek »

For those that don't brave the Podcast Maximus thread, we interviewed James again:

http://tfarchive.com/fandom/features/po ... ode_24.mp3
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Lost Light 9

Post by inflatable dalek »

Well that was a really good fully back on form two parter wasn't it?

This issue alone was incredibly dense, lots of ideas and movement of plot pieces. Probably more than in the first six issues put together.

After initially finding the coffin bot a bit inexplicable, I really liked the final reveal of what he was. It's nice to see one of the more interesting ideas from Age of Extinction (the manufactured Transformer that can do anything) get the potential chance to breath a bit more.

The Velocity/Nautica stuff was fantastic as well. Very Philip K Dick of course, but nice and creepy. Initially I thought Velocity was a bit wishy washy by deciding it was Nautica's choice (especially as you could argue her PTSD from Necroworld has left her unfit to agree to any medical procedure), I think few people would let a depressed friend go for a backstreet brain surgery even if it meant knocking them out (or in this case suggesting phoning up Cyclonus and asking for a loan from his vast wealth, I think he'd be down to help Skids), but upon thinking more about it I'd say it was true to her character even if it was clearly a poor choice.

Anode and Lug carried the lighter part of the plot, but romped along nicely and were great fun. Complete with the "I've got something in my hand that can hurt you" gag from the first Red Dwarf book.

Erm, no apparently that was inspired by Blackadder's Christmas Carol ("And the best thing is, it's the gift that keeps giving").

Flame left me a bit cold, I think because his body language was such a large part of the original and there was none of that here.

Oh that final page though. I'm amazed Maximum Dinobots was actually the last time we saw Scorpy in the present, I'd have sworn he cameoed in Last Stand. I suppose the Dille pre-war stuff and Reg has made it seem like not such an absence.

The Magnificence was of course, a rubbish badly thought out bit of nonsense. But so was Megatron's anti-matter eyes and Roberts had great fun unashamedly rehabilitating them, so I'm expecting some gleeful stuff from this.

All in all, a two parter the equal of upper level MTMTE. Feels like the shudder caused by the relaunch has corrected itself nicely. Lovely art as well.
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Post by Unicron »

I'd had a feeling Scorpy either was working for or was the Grand Architect for a while now. Guess that really was his ship on Clemency.

I'm glad the Magnificence is finally getting dealt with. All we need now is something to clean up Thunderwing's Pretender tech and we'll have sorted out the last of the stupidly overpowered stuff left from Furman's run.
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Post by Gouki »

Unicron wrote:I'd had a feeling Scorpy either was working for or was the Grand Architect for a while now. Guess that really was his ship on Clemency.

I'm glad the Magnificence is finally getting dealt with. All we need now is something to clean up Thunderwing's Pretender tech and we'll have sorted out the last of the stupidly overpowered stuff left from Furman's run.
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